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Enhancing Security by Promoting
Responsible Behavior in Space
To maintain and enhance the strategic advantages the United States
derives from space, we must address the challenges of a domain that is
increasingly congested, contested, and competitive. Global security and
prosperity are increasingly dependent on space capabilities. Information
transmitted through space enables our military to project global power
and underpins an increasingly globalized economy. Protecting our ability
to operate effectively in space is a key component of the new defense strategic
guidance signed by Defense secretary Leon Panetta in January 2012.
The National Security Space Strategy (NSSS), cosigned by the secretary of
defense and the director of national intelligence, establishes multiple ways
to protect our advantage in an evolving strategic environment. These include
increasing the effectiveness and resiliency of our space-based capabilities and
leveraging growing commercial and foreign capabilities. Foundational to
the overall approach is promoting the responsible use of space through
cooperative approaches that strengthen the sustainability, stability, safety,
and security of the domain. Safeguarding space strengthens the security of
the United States and its allies.
Collaboratively defining what it means to act responsibly in space can
create a community of national and commercial space operators with a
common understanding of and interest in acceptable behavior in this part
of the global commons. As more operators act responsibly, interference
with space systems may decline, enabling those military and intelligence
missions and civil and commercial applications that rely on space capabili
ties. Additionally, a common space “rule set” can enable military space opera
tors and intelligence analysts to more easily identify irresponsible actions
by aggressive or rogue actors, enabling accurate attribution and possibly
building consensus for coalition or international action to uphold free
dom of access to the space global commons. Over time, this should dis
courage destabilizing, irresponsible acts such as China’s 2007 test of an
antisatellite weapon.
Each segment of the space community can contribute to defining respon
sible behavior—from top-down diplomatic approaches pursued by nations
and multilateral institutions to bottom-up best practices developed and
demonstrated by commercial operators, academic institutions, and other
Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ Spring 2012 [ 9 ]
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technical experts. With more than 50 years of space experience, the DoD
has an important role to play in many of these initiatives—and a stake in
their success.
The Challenges of an Evolving Domain
Space capabilities enable our economy and our military, allowing our
troops to see with clarity, communicate with certainty, navigate with accu
racy, and operate with assurance. Satellites collect weather data and images
of the earth for a variety of civil, commercial, and national security applica
tions. The ubiquitous timing signal of the US Air Force global positioning
system enables financial markets, search and rescue, agriculture, global sup
ply chains, and precise navigation anywhere on Earth. US and allied forces
rely upon satellites to operate far from established terrestrial networks.
Satellite communications provide the backbone for long-haul intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance data streams such as those provided by re
motely piloted vehicles, which themselves are operated via satellite. All of
these capabilities are critical to a joint force projecting power to protect US
and allied interests.
But space systems face an increasing range of potential threats—both pur
poseful and unintentional. Space is increasingly congested, contested, and
competitive. Today approximately 60 nations and government consortia own
or operate satellites, and commercial space services are expanding. The DoD
tracks approximately 1,100 active satellites and 21,000 pieces of debris, and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) estimates there
are likely several hundreds of thousands of additional pieces of debris too small
to track with current sensors yet still capable of damaging satellites in orbit.
For an adversary seeking to disrupt or deny the ability of the United States to
project power, space capabilities may provide an appealing target set, especially
early in a crisis or conflict. Counterspace systems, in particular low-end jam
mers, are proliferating and becoming an integral part of antiaccess/area denial
efforts of potential adversaries.
Defining Responsible Behavior to
Enhance National Security
The growing use of space presents shared challenges for current, emerg
ing, and future space-faring nations. As stated in the 2010 US National
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Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ spring 2012
Space Policy, “All nations have the right to use and explore space, but with
this right also comes responsibility.” The policy further “calls on all nations
to work together to adopt approaches for responsible activity in space to
preserve this right for the benefit of future generations.”
Establishing widely accepted guidelines for responsible behavior in
space can enhance the national security of the United States and its al
lies while enabling the peaceful space activities of all who seek to benefit
from space. Together with enhancing the resilience of US and partner
space capabilities, collaborating with other responsible space operators,
and maintaining the capability to respond to potential attacks, promoting
responsible behavior in space is the foundation of a multilayered approach
to deterring threats to US space systems.
Strengthening the responsible use of space will enhance our ability to
derive benefit from national security space activities, in particular as the
space domain becomes more sustainable, stable, safe, and secure. We will
maintain our strategic advantage if our national security “eyes and ears”
can perform their mission without the threat of purposeful or unintentional
interference. This underpins the success of our military forces, intelligence
collection, and the many civil and commercial space services foundational
to our economic security.
Additionally, we may be able to simplify identification and attribution
of hostile or other bad behavior by developing international consensus
around what defines responsible, peaceful, and safe behavior. If nations
commit to a standard of conduct, actions outside of the norm will be
easier to recognize. We can therefore be more efficient in our use of space
situational awareness (SSA) resources to identify those behaviors recognized
as indicators of hostile intent. If an irresponsible act takes place, a com
munity of operators committed to responsible behavior can more quickly
come together to isolate rogue actors, and we can build on these partner
ships to create coalitions of responsible space-faring nations.
The Department’s Role in Promoting
Responsible Behavior
The DoD has an important role to play in US government and international
discussions of responsible behavior. First and foremost, the department
has significant operational experience that can be brought to bear in de
veloping “rules of the road” for space. The DoD fields satellites in almost
Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ Spring 2012 [ 11 ]
every space mission area and has the most extensive SSA network in the
world. Second, it has, over the past two years, expanded its relationships
with commercial and international space operators through the US Strategic
Command (USSTRATCOM) SSA-sharing program. Through SSA shar
ing, the DoD is establishing a reputation as a valuable resource for ensur
ing spaceflight safety for all space operators.
Finally, the department has much to lose from irresponsible acts that
threaten the sustainability, stability, safety, and security of the domain.
The DoD must take action to ensure it can continue to derive national
security benefit from the space domain. We will draw on our operational
expertise and expanding relationships to work with the Department of
State, NASA, and other US government, commercial, and foreign space
operators to define responsible behavior.
Ways to Define Responsible Behavior
The United States will continue to lead in defining the responsible,
peaceful, and safe use of space with the many nations, commercial firms,
and intergovernmental organizations that field, or aspire to field, space
capabilities. But because space is no longer populated by government
satellites alone, a variety of means must be pursued to cooperatively de
fine responsible space operations. Everything from diplomatic initiatives,
such as an international code of conduct for space, to technical standards
and best practice guidelines can contribute to this goal. As stated in the
National Security Space Strategy, “The United States will support devel
opment of data standards, best practices, transparency and confidence-
building measures, and norms of behavior for responsible space opera
tions.” These different approaches to defining responsible behavior can
and should be pursued by different segments of the growing community
of space operators and space users.
Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures
Consistent with National Space Policy guidance, one top-down diplomatic
initiative the United States is pursuing is bilateral and multilateral trans
parency and confidence-building measures (TCBM) to encourage respon
sible actions in, and the peaceful use of, space. TCBMs generally consist
of information sharing and mutual assurances to reduce the chances
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Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ spring 2012
of mishaps, misperception, and mistrust. The United States is currently
engaged in a number of bilateral TCBMs with Russia, including visit
exchanges to military space installations and sharing of information on
space policies and strategies. These measures are important for increasing
understanding, fostering trust, and enhancing stability. Additionally, the
United States participates in bilateral space security dialogues with other
major space-faring nations to exchange information and develop deeper
understanding of each others’ policies and programs. The department also
leads its own space cooperation forums to support direct military-to-military
exchanges with key allies and partners.
TCBMs, however, need not be limited to bilateral relationships. The
United States has subscribed to the voluntary Hague Code of Conduct
(HCOC) against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, which requires subscrib
ing states to announce to other subscribing states planned ballistic missile
and space vehicle launches. The HCOC consists of a set of general prin
ciples, modest commitments, and limited confidence-building measures
and is intended to complement, not supplant, the Missile Technology
Control Regime.
An upcoming UN Group of Governmental Experts will examine space
TCBMs in a multilateral forum with the goal of developing a catalog of
measures that define aspects of responsible behavior related to space. The
United States intends to play an active role in this group and believes
proposals could include measures aimed at enhancing the transparency
of national security space policies, strategies, activities, and experiments;
notifications regarding environmental or unintentional hazards to space
flight safety; and the use of international consultations regarding outer
space operations to prevent incidents and minimize the risks of potentially
harmful interference. While there will always be limits to the national
security information shared by the United States and other nations,
broadly increasing dialogue between space-faring nations can help build
understanding and strengthen relationships that could prove invaluable
during a potential crisis.
Codes of Conduct
Space-faring nations can work cooperatively to capture key TCBMs
and other elements of responsible behavior in a diplomatic code of con
duct. An international code of conduct for outer space activities, such as
the one proposed by the European Union (EU), could serve as a voluntary
Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ Spring 2012 [ 13 ]
framework that describes how responsible states operate in space. The core
elements of a code should include those measures that are in the interests
of all space-faring nations.
A code of conduct can enhance US national security by serving as one
of the most visible and political ways in which nations commit to acting
responsibly in space. Nations willfully acting contrary to a code could ex
pect to be isolated as rogue actors. A code of conduct such as the EU’s draft
proposal would enhance US national security by building international
political consensus around precepts such as debris mitigation, collision
avoidance, hazard notifications, and general practices of spaceflight safety.
The precepts in the EU’s proposal are largely consistent with current US
practices and, because the draft focuses on behaviors, not capabilities, it
would not constrain development of, for example, missile defense. Also to
the benefit of US national security, the EU draft applies only in peacetime
and explicitly recognizes that the inherent right of individual and collec
tive self-defense extends to the space domain.
The development and negotiation of a code could play an important
role in building international political consensus and understanding
around key concepts of responsible behavior. To ensure the broadest adop
tion and implementation of such a code—and the benefits that would
entail—it should be developed collaboratively by all responsible space-
faring nations.
Best Practice Guidelines
Moving away from top-down initiatives undertaken by nations are
bottom-up best practice guidelines for all phases of a space system life
cycle—design, launch, operation, and end of life. Best practice guidelines
develop over time and grow out of successful experience and operator re
quirements. In some ways, developing best practice guidelines is the most
inclusive process because all operators, irrespective of whether they are
governmental, commercial, academic, or otherwise, have a shared interest
in spaceflight safety.
International space debris mitigation guidelines are one successful example
of the collaborative development of space best practice guidelines. Based
on the US government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices, the
Inter-Agency Debris Coordination Committee (IADC)––an international
committee of national space agencies––developed a set of technical guide
lines for minimizing the creation of space debris. The Scientific and Technical
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Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ spring 2012
Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
(COPUOS) used the IADC guidelines to develop a similar set of UN
debris mitigation guidelines, which were subsequently adopted by the full
committee and endorsed by the General Assembly.
The upcoming COPUOS working group on the long-term sustainability
of space activities presents a similar opportunity for developing best prac
tice guidelines in other areas of space activity. Beginning in 2012, technical
experts from all COPUOS member states will be invited to participate in
a working group examining, among other things, best practice guidelines
for debris mitigation, debris removal, collision avoidance, rendezvous and
docking, launch notification, collaborative sharing of space situational
awareness, and space weather. This working group will collaboratively
develop a compendium of guidelines that, in essence, define how those
involved in space activities—from engineers to operators—can contribute
to the long-term sustainability of space activities.
The United States intends to play an active role in the UN work on
sustainability. Building upon the experience of NASA, NOAA, and DoD
space operators, as well as US commercial space service providers, the
United States will share its best practices in many of these areas. The de
partment’s experience in space system design, launch, operations, and end
of life will serve as a solid foundation for US government inputs to this
forum. The experience of USSTRATCOM in providing SSA support to
other operators will prove especially valuable. Through the USSTRATCOM
SSA-sharing program, commercial or international space operators can,
with a negotiated agreement, receive assistance in screening maneuver
plans, screening launch and disposal windows, and locating and resolving
sources of interference. Operators also receive notifications of potential
close approaches within predefined safety volumes.
These collaborative opportunities to work through shared operational
challenges will result in common understanding of the best practices
that define responsible space activities. As new technologies enable new
operating concepts—such as on-orbit servicing and distributed and
fractionated architectures—new best practices will, over time, naturally
emerge to govern these activities in ways that benefit all future users
of space. All space operators engaged in new types of space activity—
government, commercial, academic, or otherwise—will play a role in
establishing guidelines as they gain design, development, launch, and
operational experience.
Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ Spring 2012 [ 15 ]
Technical Standards
Finally, truly bottom-up technical standards also have a role in defining
responsible behavior. Organizations such as the International Organization
for Standardization (responsible for the ISO-9000 series of standards on
quality management, for example) use a rigorous and disciplined technical
process to develop standards ranging from screw thread tolerances to in
formation system formats. They have developed several standards on space
safety and orbital debris mitigation. Though the process of developing stan
dards can be long, it is one that involves a variety of stakeholders—including
government, industry, and academia.
The Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems is developing stan
dards for space data and information systems to facilitate collaboration
among space agencies. USSTRATCOM is working with this committee
and other standards organizations to develop space standards for space
situational awareness information. These types of standards will reflect the
best practices of industry and government and enable greater collabora
tion and information sharing in the future.
An Integrated Approach
Each of these ways to define responsible behavior should be pursued
by the many nations, commercial operators, and intergovernmental and
nongovernmental organizations operating or benefiting from space capabili
ties. Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, and each can be best
developed by a particular segment of the space community.
No matter which venue is most successful or pursued most vigorously,
all can enhance the national security of the United States and its allies
while protecting the strategic advantages we derive from space. Increas
ing responsible behavior in space can make the space domain a safer and
more secure operating environment, discourage irresponsible acts but
identify them if they occur, and build consensus for maintaining order in
an increasingly congested, contested, and competitive domain. Reducing
threats to US and allied space systems will enhance our ability to project
power over global distances to deter aggression and assure our allies and
regional partners.
As stated at the outset, promoting responsible use of space is just one
element of our National Security Space Strategy. To effectively contribute
to our security, it must be complemented by effective space capabilities
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Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ spring 2012
responsive to new threats and war-fighter needs; demonstrated resiliency
in key mission areas enabled by space, including through backup capa
bilities in other domains; and a readiness to respond in self-defense,
including in other domains. A common space rule set can advance our
interests but is no substitute for robust and resilient military capabilities.
Secretary Panetta’s new strategic guidance calls for the United States to
continue leading global efforts to assure access to and use of the global
commons, both by strengthening international norms of behavior and by
maintaining necessary military capabilities. The Department of Defense
has an important role to play in both areas.
Ambassador Gregory L. Schulte
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Ms. Audrey M. Schaffer
Space Policy Advisor
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Strategic Studies Quarterly ♦ Spring 2012 [ 17 ]
